Courgette, pepper and sweetcorn biryani

I’ve finally managed to make something that my chief taste-tester, Shaun, finds “revolting”! Why have I never made a Biryani before? This was a bit of a cheat’s quickie version. He didn’t actually taste this version. Besides, I loved it.

What to use – serves 1

70g brown rice

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 clove of garlic, sliced finely

half a red pepper – chopped

quarter of a courgette – chopped

handful of frozen veg – I used a mix of beans, peas and sweetcorn

1 tbsp medium curry powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

chopped parsley to garnish – as I had no coriander

sea salt

squeeze of lemon

How to use it

Cook your rice until tender. Don’t do this like I did and put on a pan of rice that takes a billion years, and then have your veg ready about half an hour too soon. Check the timing…

About 8 minutes before the rice is due to be ready, heat your oil in a large non-stick frying pan and gently fry the garlic, courgette, red pepper for three to four minutes. Add your cumin seeds and curry powder and stir for another minute. Add a bit more oil if you think it needs it.

Add the frozen veg – I used a mix of green beans, broad beans, peas, sweetcorn. Now because I screwed this up, they were actually in the pan for about 15 minutes but in theory they should defrost and cook in about three minutes. Keep stirring.

Drain your rice, add to the spicy veg pan, and stir well. Season to taste. I added a big pinch of sea salt, a big squeeze of lemon and served with parsley and yoghurt.